Electric coupling.



P. C. WILD. ELECTRIC GOUPLING.

APPLIGATION FILED APR. 26, 1910.

1,014, 1018, Patented .12111.9, 1912.

srarus Parana ortica.

PAUL c. wILp, or ROCHESTER, NEW Yomz.

ELECTRIC COUPLING.

1,o14,1os.

Specification of :Letters` Patent.

Patented J an. 9,1912.

Application filed Aprn 2c, 191'0. semi-No. 557,666.

To all whom 'it may concer/n:

Be it known that I, PAUL C. WILD, of Rochester,in the county of.Monroe and State of New York, have invented cert-ain 'new and useful Improvements in Electric Couplings; and I do hereby declare the fol-4 ture suitable for use l1n connection with the manipulation of electrically operated hand tools or implements.

To lthese and other ends the invention .consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as Will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claim at the end of the specification. vIn the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of Va switch or coupling constructed in accordance with and Hillustrating one embodiment of my invention, the parts being shown in the positions which they occupy when the circuit is established through the coupling; Fig. 2 is a similar view from another side;

Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a similar section taken in a similar plane on'Fig. 1.

Similar reference numerals throughout the views indicate the same parts.

In the present embodiment 1 indicates a preferably flexible conductor comprising the circuit Wires 2 and 3, suitably insulated,

one of which leads, at 4, to a casing 5 constituting the major portion of one of the coupling members and into which is preferably threaded a`tubular barrel 6 which also receives the current at 4 forming an extension of the casing that receives the preferably cylindrical plug7 associated (with a part 8 that may represent herein a part of the implement or other device to which the current is supplied or a member suitably connected therewith. The other Wire 2 of the conductor 1 leads, at 9, to a core piece `1() held by an insulator 1l Within the tubuing Within the core piece is a contact member 12 preferably in the nature of a plunger which 1s made to project Within the barrel 6 to a degree limited by coperating shoulders 13 and 14 on'the 'corepiece and plunger, respectively, under the iniuence of a helical spring 15 acting against a shoulder 16 on the latter' and the end of the core plecelO. The plug 7 is provided with a .centrally arranged projecting contact member .17 insulated at 18 from the outer shell, forming the body of the plug, and which leads through a Wire 19 to the implement or device to which current is supplied. `As the plug 7, constituting the other coupling member, is moved longitudinally Within the barrel 6 of the first its contact member 17 is-correspondingly moved into and out of engagement with the contact member 12 opening or closing the circuit. With the arrangements shown, the current may beconducted through the coupling and back again by entering through the `Wire 2 to the core piece l0, to the conta-ct member 12 and -from thence to the contact member 17 and the Wire 19 returning through the part 8 to the plug 7, barrel 6, casing 5 and Wire L3 but, of course, if it is more desirable for the purposes to be attained the current may be run, only through the Wire 2 and back from the implement or engine along another' course. In either event, the circuit may be broken by moving the coupling members longitudi- -lar extension 6 of thecasing 5 and operat- A nally and separating the contacts 12 and 17.

`In the practice of my invention I provide one of the coupling members, preferably the plug 7, with a stop 20 preferably projecting laterally therefrom in the. form ofa pin, as shown, and when the members are joined this stop is introduced through anopening 21 in the barrel 6 and occupies a segmental, helical slot 22 in the latter, the walls of which slot serve the purpose 'of a cam guide so that when the coupling members are given a relative rotary movement they will also be moved longitudinally members 12 and 17 will be brought into or out of engagement. At either end of the slot 22 is a recess forming abutments 23 and 24 that are thus spaced apart both circumferentially and longitudinally of the barrel 6 and with which the stop 20 is adapted to coperate. It coperates with the abutment 24, as shown in Fig. 2, when the contact and the contact members are in engagement, as shown in contact members are separated, as shown in Fig. 4. In either case it is held in coperagether suiiciently to disengage the stop 20 tion with the abutment by a helical spring 25 arranged within the barrel 6 to surround the contact member 17 and interposed between the coupling members to have a bear- 'ing in the present instance against the plug 7 and the insulator 11 within the casin 5 at its respective ends. The tendency of t is spring is to separate the couplin Amembers, but as .they are rotated relative y and the stop 20 passes from the abutment 24Ato the abutment 23, the spring causes its'engagement with the latter, because of the nature of the recess by which the abutment is formed, before it can operate to thrust the vstop through the opening 21 and allow the' total separation of the coupling members.

Thus, if'the operator wishes to breakthe circuit, he pushes the coupling members tofrom the abutment 24 (the cont-act member 'l2 .being for this reason resiliently held in engagement with'the other by the spring 15) and then rotates them so-thatthey move apart and the stop 23. The coupling 1s then intact, that is, its parts 'are still associatedthough the contact members are out of engagement.` Thus, if a tool or implement is' being supplied through the coupling, the current can be turned olf and it can b e laid aside without disconnecting it, but if it is desired to dis'- c'onnect the Atool or implement, of which the plug or member 7 formsa part, and connect up-another tool or implement having a similar p1ug`f7, as a partlthereof, the stop against the tension of the spring 25 and passed out through the opening 21 permitting the total separation of the members of engages the abutment the coupling. As before indicated, however, the coupling may be utilized merely as a switch 1n a circuit of any character e for though it' isparticularly useful when used along the lines followed in the above description -its broadest characteristicof improvementfaside from matters of structural design lies in the fact that it may be made to conveniently make and break a circuit without entailing a total se `aration of the component parts of the coursing.

I claim. as my invention:` Y t In an electric coupling, the combina/,tion with two separablev coperating coupling members, one of which embodies atubular barrel and the other a plug fitting in 4said. barrel,.. the said members being provided with terminal contacts movable into and out of-engaging position. by the relative longitudinal movement of the plug within the barrel, of a cam guide on one off the members, a pair of abutments thereon spaced longitudinally and circumferentially thereof along. the guide, .a stopon the other cof,

operating with one abutment whenthe contacts are out of engagement to prevent total separation of ,the members and .with the other abut-ment when the contacts vare in et l.

engagementv to preven't\relative movement l fof the members, longitudinally -and disengagement of t e contacts, said' stop 'and guide coperating to cause a relative longitudinal movement of the members when they are given a relative rotary movement and -the stopl moves from one abutment to the lot-herfand a springinterposedbetween the -members and tending to separate them and to hold the stopin coperave relation with l' either abutment.- -may be disengaged from the abutment 23 l 7 PAUIiC. WILD.

. 'Witnesseszl ARUSSELL B. CrRIFFrriar,f Y LUCY A. VAN COURT. 

